Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1887-11-09
GOLDEN DAYS or 40
A story of tho First Nugget Found IL
California.

@f&itAOEtktats
An authentic history of the first gold
nugget found In California is some
thing that has not, believe been given
to the public, says San Francisco LETT
ter. A Mr.. Allen, Of this city, has in
his possession what he positively af-
firms to be the original gold nugget
found in 1s4S BY Marshall and Wcm-
mer in the tail-race of the Coloma
saw-mill. Mr.. Allen has held the val
liable relic in trust for the Wemmcrs
for the past ten years. His story is in-
teresting, and / give it in his own
words: I'm tho year 1877 was en-.
gagged as an attorney by some settlers
in q disputed land case in the southern
portion of Los Angeles county. While
in that section I met an old man named
Peter Wemmer, bent almost double
with age, but whose mind and menu
DRY were singularly clear. / found.
him to be an exceedingly interesting
character, and as our friendship
ripened he told me that he was with
Marshall when he picked up the famous
gold nugget He added, confidentially,
that his wife still had the nugget in
her possession. at once became in
terested, and few days later drove
out to Wemmers place. There we
saw Mrs. Wemmer, who, like her hus-
band, was far advanced in years. /
explained my mission, and Mrs. Wem-
mea became somewhat excited when
she learned OF it. Finally | prevailed
upon her to let me see the nugget.
She unbottoned the bosom of her dress,
and drew out bundle of cloth wrapped
tight, which hung suspended by a
string around her neck. The old
woman, trembling with excitement,
proceeded to unwrap the bundle. Roll
after roll was unWound and finally
she reached a tightly-folded stocking;
this she slowly and anxiously undid
until she reached a hard substance
which she finally laid in the palm of
my hand. 1t was the nugget, a small,
almost fiat and rather rough piece of
gold, just one inch across its longest
way. It was quite thin around the
outer fange, with considerable de-
preston on one side. 1t weighed be-
tween third and quarter of an
ounce and contained $5.05 worth of
gold.
.''Wife has carried that around her
neck day and night for over twenty
years, said Mr.. Wemmer, 'and guess
you are the first she has ever let see
H.
"Mrs. Wemmer begged me to take
the nugget with me and put it in a
bank or safe. She said she was almost
afraid to keep SO valuable a relic
longer herself. / took it and it has
been with me ever since.
s.The Wemmers crossed the plains
to California in 1916; while living at
Suffers mill they made the acquaint-
ance of James Marshall, and Col. Sui
ter suggested to Wcmmer and Marshall
the project of building a saw-mill on
the American river. They accepted.
Wemmer was millwright and Marshall
was foreman. Mrs. Wemmer was
cook and all the men employed in the
mill boarded with her. A dam was
first built across the river and a sluice
run from it. In digging out the river
bed for the mill the dam would be
closed and the dirt would be shoveled
into the sluice. At night the water
would be turned on and the earth
washed away. 1t was not long before
numbers of bright specks were noticed
sticking in the crevices of the sluice
in the morning when the water was
turned off, and discussion arose as
to what these bright specks were.
.Mrs. Wemmer had lived for some
time near a Georgia gold mine and
she pronounced them to be gold.
This theory was pooh-poohed by Mar
shall. But one morning he and Wem-
mer were walking down the tail-race
when he suddenly picked up something
from the box and asked Wemmer
what it was. Wemmer- examined it
and said that it certainly was gold.
At that moment Wemmer's boy, a lad
of ten or twelve, came up and Wem-
mer gave him the nugget, telling him
to take it to his mother and tell her to
boil it in the soap kettle. Mrs. Wem-
mer was at that time making soft soap,
and she threw the nugget into tie
boiling mixture. The next morning
it was taken from the caldron and ex-
amined by the men at the breakfast
table. TWAS not blackened, but more
FURNISHED by the test. Even then
Marshall had doubts, but Wemmer
insisted that some one should take the
nugget to the fort at Sacramento,
sixty miles distant. and Marshall finally
consented to 60. The rest of the story
is part of the worlds history"
A Horrible Spectacle.